Flooring Options for a Childrens' Home Dining Hall

Some time this summer a Church Men's Group I'm part of will be installing a new floor in the Dining Hall of a Children's Home. We'll be removing the old destroyed linoleum and replacing it with something.

We'll be going over good, solid, smooth, level concrete.

What flooring material should we use? Here are some of my initial "pros and cons" thoughts.

1. Ceramic or Porcelain Tile. Highly durable (much needed), and could look great. But it would also feel cold, could be slippery, and would break anything dropped on it.

2. Linoleum. Fairly easy install, and overall good durability. But the floor is larger than 12', and the present linoleum split badly at the seam.

3. Wood Laminate. The obvious negative would be durability. This is a high traffic area. However, it would be a very easy install, and we could go into it with the assumption that, in a couple years when the stuff is worn out, we'll just replace it. I've seen some good 8mil laminate on sale for as little as 75 cents per square foot, so the price could be very attractive.

What are your thoughts? Again, this is a high traffic area - roughly 16' x 25'.

Flooring Options for a Childrens' Home Dining Hall

Quote:

Originally Posted by AandPDan

Looks good! Nice job and I'm glad the kids were involved. It'll give them a sense of "ownership" and pride.

That is exactly what happened, and it's fantastic! 3 of the resident boys were there every step of the way. Our point man showed them how to lay the tile in the right direction, and right side up, and the boys actually did a great job.

As you know, in their minds, THEY laid the floor - which is just as it should be.